His dad is a former Marine, they are big into camping, hunting, fishing, etc, so I don't think I have to worry about that too much...

Stay sober. (Alternate definition: Devoid of speculative imagination. ) What you spend time thinking of directly affects how you feel and you do have the choice of what you spend time thinking about. It's impossible to worry and get stressed out if you are focused on how great your life actually is. (More than half the people on this planet subsist on less than $1,000 per year, have no access to indoor plumbing and are highly unlikely to have the opportunity to change those facts.) Taking things for granted is epidemic in the western world but developing the skill of being grateful is well worth the effort.

Eliminate speculative imagination and nurture creative imagination and gratitude.

Many thanks to you Angel and all the others who have sent best wishes.

OBG, I've been enjoying every minute with her for 14 years and hope to spend many more. She has allowed me to change from a couldn't give a damn drunken single soldier to a well rounded quite contented and mostly happy father and soldier. I wouldn't be where I am today without her and her mother.

Good advice dweste.

Acknowledge it and move on.

I think of a story about Britons during the bombing of London.

Even though bombs are falling and people are dieing there is a wisdom of "business as usual". (Tea time at two, or whenever the bombs slow down a bit)

Keeping up normal routines (or something similar) such as getting up at the same time, etc helps keep stress down.

Keeping one's focus on the here and now.

The one-day-at-a-time idea. During a very stressful time in my life, I was just focusing on one hour at a time. Had my watch set to chime on the hour and when it did, I stopped whatever I was doing and just focused on breathing for five minutes, then went back to work...

These are skills we all can practice recession or not.

Practice positive coping skills even when not under stress and they will be easier / more automatic when the stress/ crisis hits.

Maintaining Emotional/Mental health - Good lessons for all of us to learn given our interest in disaster preparedness.

By living slightly below my means all the time, not taking on any debt and keeping a positive flow of cash to savings (including investments) when bad times come as they always do, I have a great fall back. Other than the price of gas, I haven't noticed any issues.

High gas prices are with us, deal with it -- cut back on driving. I'm pulling the mountain bike off the rafters in the garage and getting it ready for more regular use. New road tires, brakes, et al and it should be good to go. I weighed the cost of having a bicycle shop do the work vs doing it myself and then I saw that REI has a Comprehensive Bicycle Maintenance course. So I paid the tuition and will do the work myself and learn what it takes to keep a bike going for the long haul.

Don't obsess about stuff. I was plenty content when I had less. I may shed a lot of weight in the form of material things, just give it to Good Will, AmVets or the Salvation Army.

Same as others, living well below my means, and keeping debt down.

I would, however, say that our economy is cyclical by nature, and this isn't close to a recession. The 80's were particularly bad for oil, and that was a fun time trying to get a job. This economy is much better than that was.

Picard, I'm not familiar with the economic situation in Canada, though I know yous guys are feeling the gas price hike too, but here in the U.S., there isn't a "recession". We're suffering from gas prices and housing market woes (to minor degree), but overall, the economy's relatively strong.

The "news" media can convince of many things. If they said over and over again, in their subtle and subliminal ways, that we were all afflicted with a cancer and would die within 6 months, we surely would, cancer or not. One of the best ways I can think of to deal with this "economic" stress is to stop listening to those that would prefer you were stressed and pay attention to what the economy is really doing.

Here's another thought:

How would you like to be paying TWICE what we pay over here for gas in France? Or England? And they've been paying almost twice what we pay for a long time. Mostly that's because their governments tax the gas unrealistically....just like here.

Another thought on the media:
Why is that we hear, ten or twelve times a day, what the current gas price is? Do they think we're so dumb we can't remember the price as we drive by the gas staion marquis? (Answer: yes, that's why they do it. They correctly KNOW we're (n)umb enough to succumb to their subliminal messaging)

They do the same thing with housing prices, war statistics, "corporate" salaries, and, of course, the ever-more-evil "big business". The more stressed out you are, the more you'll want "change". What kind of change? ....doesn;t matter, just give us change! We're "hoping" for it.

I turn off the news, Picard, and I turn off those who believe and repeat the mantra. I try to keep a positive outlook and be thankful for what we have. My stress then comes from job pressure and dealing with bad people. I manage it the best I can with exercise and spending time with positive thinking people.

I plan on taking a nice book, papers from work, or even household bills I need to pay to make better use of my time if stuck in gas lines. I also plan on filling up on company time as I use my personal vehicle for work.

IMHO, stress is what we make it.

I can only wish her, and your family the best. Words fail me in posting my wishes for you all.
Stu